


Forever

by shaniceisfalling



Category: Angel Beats!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-14
Updated: 2017-10-14
Packaged: 2019-01-10 06:20:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12293127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shaniceisfalling/pseuds/shaniceisfalling
Summary: What if Angel had gone first? What if Hinata was the second to last person left, all alone in the afterlife with Otonashi? And what if it was Hinata who Otonashi offered forever to?





	Forever

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction. All characters belong to their respective owners and any alterations that I've made to the plot do not reflect the intentions or actions of the creator(s).

Angel disappeared, like everyone else before her. It left an empty feeling in both of the two remaining people, Hinata especially. It hurt him to see the look on Otonashi’s face when the girl left.

He knew it would happen. That’s why he had offered to go first. But she insisted because she had something important to get off her chest (literally), and by the order of things, it didn’t feel right to argue against her. It was her ceremony after all. Why should she have to go through any more sad "obliterations"?

He turned to Otonashi, but the man was already walking away.

“Leaving without saying goodbye?” Hinata asked. He made his voice sound light, but the idea hurt him. Was Otonashi just here for the girls (Naoi included)? Especially after Kanade’s confession, it would make sense. She did have his heart after all. Probably not just the physical one either.

Otonashi looked back at him with a strained smile. “I just wanted to step outside? I could use some fresh air right about now.”

“Okay,” Hinata said, unsure of what to do.

“Come with me?” Otonashi asked.

Hinata thought,  _"Of course. Always."_  But he didn’t tell Otonashi as much. He just followed him into the warm, orange atmosphere of the world they probably would never see again.

Otonashi leaned his head back and stared up into the sky.

Hinata couldn’t take his eyes off him. If this really was the end, he deserved that much. There was so much he wanted to say to his friend. So much he knew he never could, or would. His chest ached. He was ready to get this over with. “So…” He cleared his throat. “What now?” He really meant who now. Who first.

Otonashi shrugged. “I suppose one of us has to decide to go next.”

“Yeah…” Exactly what he didn’t want to hear. He knew it was true, but a part of him wished he’d never hear those words come out of him. Especially because, by the order of things, the next to go should probably be Hinata himself. He sighed.

“I guess—” They said in unison. They looked at each other and laughed, softly.

“Sorry, you first,” Hinata said.

Otonashi looked at him, the same way he looked at him during Naoi’s siege when he thought Hinata was dead, hoping desperately for more time he thought he wouldn’t get.

He had run to the guy that day without restraint. Fell to his knees beside him. Of course his blue-haired friend had pointed it out, calling him gay for running straight to him. Otonashi played it off then, but… The words Hinata once told him all those days ago echoed in his mind. _We’ve spent a lot of time together. So I’ll be with you in the end too._ “Say, Hinata?”

“Yeah?” Hinata turned to him fully.

Otonashi braced himself. “Would you like to, maybe… stay here?”

Hinata raised an eyebrow. “With you?”

“Yeah.”

“For a while or like...?"

Otonashi made no move for clarification.

"You mean forever?” Hinata asked.

Otonashi looked apprehensive. “Well, I don’t know if we can stay forever, but I guess as long as possible.”

Hinata tried to keep the grin off his face. Was he hearing right? “So forever, basically?”

Otonashi was afraid to say it. Forever was a long time. Forever was permanent. It was hard to sell forever to someone who was ready to move on with his life two seconds ago, but if he was being honest with himself and Hinata, yes. Forever was exactly what he wanted with him. “Yeah… I mean, I don't know why the thought just came to me, but more people will probably come here. They might need some help. I could do that. I wouldn’t mind, but I might go crazy all by myself. If you stay with me, I mean, I won’t get lonely.”

Hinata raised an eyebrow. “Man… that’s so gay.”

Otonashi shoved him, half-heartedly. “I’m being serious.” His face glowed in the light of the burning sun. Hinata wasn’t sure if it was the sun though. He hoped it was more, especially with what he was about to say.

He looked into Otonashi’s eyes, unsure of how what he was about to say would affect the offer or their relationship. But this was the end after all, right? It was now or never, and it had always been this to him. He braced himself and began to speak. “Otonashi…”

“If you don’t want to Hinata, it’s fine.” Otonashi scratched the back of his neck, nervously. “I was just… I was just joking. I know you have a life that you want to get to. And then there’s Yui—”

Hinata chuckled. “No, that’s not what I was trying to say. And it wasn’t like that with her.”

Otonashi gave him a look.

“Well, it was,” Hinata clarified. “But… just listen to what I’m saying, okay?”

Otonashi gave in. He nodded, facing Hinata completely and giving him a chance to speak.

Hinata took a deep breath. “Do you remember when you called out to me that day? _Don’t catch it, Hinata! I…I don’t want you to disappear!_ ”

Otonashi nodded, embarrassed at the intimate memory.

Hinata grinned. “Man, I thought you were about to bust out crying. That was so gay.”

“S-Shut up.” Otonashi clenched his fist, looking away.

Hinata tried to contain his laughter. “No, wait. I didn’t mean it like that… what I’m trying to say is, I thought I was going to disappear then. Move on or whatever, but then I didn’t. And even with Yui, I thought I was going to move on, obliterate, but I didn’t. I… I think I’m gay for you, Otonashi.”

“...” It was Otonashi’s turn to chuckle and shake his head. “Isn’t there any other way you could’ve said that, Hinata?”

“What other way could I have?" He chuckled. "It's true. I think I’ve been gay for you ever since that day in the guild, when you looked at me that way, like… like you’d known me forever.” The other man smirked, but there was no mistaking it. He was nervous. He had just laid his heart out and hadn’t received an answer yet. He hesitated, and then looked at Otonashi from the corner of his eyes. “Well?”

“Well, what?” Otonashi asked taking a step closer.

“Aren’t you going to say something?”

“Like what?” The man played dumb, loving how nervous the other looked.

Hinata felt his whole body heat up. “Like, I don’t know… Confess your undying love to me?” Hinata said it with all the bravado that was so natural to him, but the delay was really getting his nerves working. The prospect of Otonashi returning his feelings was starting to look less and less likely. The thought of Yuri and Angel and how close Otonashi was to both filled his mind. Even with them gone, he could still…

Had his friend’s offer just been that? Friendly? Had Hinata read too much into it? Had he said too much? Had he made the situation awkward? "When you made that offer, was it really just about the others that might come?"

Otonashi chuckled and closed the gap between them, wrapping his arms around Hinata, slowly. “I just asked you to stay with me forever man. Why do you look so unsure? You were right. It was… it was gay. Really gay, you know. The gay was intended.”

Hinata rolled his eyes and turned his burning face to the side. “You could’ve made that clear to begin with.”

“How much clearer could I have made it?” Otonashi leaned his head against Hinata’s shoulder.

Hinata could barely breathe. His heart was beating so hard against his chest. “I don’t know. But what’s with holding me like this? What are we, girls?” he stammered out, though he was smiling.

Otonashi rolled his eyes. “I’m sorry _your majesty_. How would you like me to hold you?” He asked it as just a whisper, unintentionally ghosting his breath over Hinata’s neck.

Hinata shivered. He couldn’t take it anymore. He tilted Otonashi’s face to look at him clearly and then, without missing a beat, pushed his friend (was it just friends now?) up against the railing. Their lips connected.

Hinata held him firm against his chest.

Otonashi blushed like mad and turned away. “Hinata.” He gestured towards where they were. Out in the open.

“What?” Hinata smirked. “There’s no one else here.” He looked up at the setting sun.

The glowing sky and everything around them put them both at peace, mesmerizing them. Or was that just the fact that they were with each other? Holding each other. Firm in each other’s arms and finally free to do what they wanted.

“I love you, Otonashi,” Hinata confessed, smiling down at the redhead.

And the redhead buried his head against the other’s chest, holding onto him for dear life, afraid that the next words might be the last. Afraid that this was all too good to be true, and that it all might slip away from them in seconds. This place wasn’t meant to be a paradise after all, but Otonashi had to say it. He had to. “I love you, too.” He closed his eyes.

But then he felt the other pull away from him. All contact was gone. Was he gone? Was Hinata gone just like that? “Hinata?” Otonashi didn’t dare open his eyes.

No Response.

“Hinata?” Otonashi screamed out. He wasn’t breathing.

“What?” Hinata asked.

Otonashi opened his eyes to see the man’s outstretched hand before him.

“I… I thought you were gone.” Otonashi said, barely able to speak.

His friend smiled. “I’m not going anywhere. Come on.”

Otonashi took the hand Hinata was offering him and they walked down the steps together. For the first time in a long time, he wasn’t afraid to believe him.

**Author's Note:**

> I personally loved Angel with Otonashi, so my shipping of these characters doesn't go in spite of that pairing. It goes beyond it or beside it or whatever you want to call it haha. I can't English right now.
> 
> The point is, I like shipping different couples. And maybe because I'm bi myself, I don't really like when people try to throw down different gendered or "hetero" ships to promote same-gender/sex couples. It's not my cup of tea. And the reverse is also true, and I think that's equally disgusting. If a character's sexuality has not been outright confirmed (and sometimes even if it has been), it's not anybody's place to say that the character is this way or that or that someone else's ship doesn't deserve to exist. Stop shitting on stuff that makes people happy for no apparent reason. It's fucking fiction for fuck's sake, grow up. If you don't like it, but it's not explicitly hurting anyone, look. The other. Way.
> 
> Rant over. Sorry, to get so angry about it, but any who~
> 
> I like Otonashi and Angel but I also like Otonashi and Hinata (seeing as I wrote this fanfic), and even though my boys weren't canon, I think that there was substantial evidence throughout the show that serves as proof that these two had a little bit of something going on and would make a great couple <3


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